A man's attempt to save his friend's teenage son from drowning came close to tragedy when he was swept away himself.

Ryan Curran, 13, was walking on rocks at Cresswell, Northumberland, with a group of family and friends yesterday when he was swept into the water by a huge swell.

As the youngster was battered against jagged rocks family friend David Farrar, 43, tried to reach him and was also swept away.

A full-scale air-sea rescue was triggered when other members of the group called 999, but before emergency services arrived Ryan's schoolfriend Christopher Urwin threw an old garden hose he had found into the sea.

Ryan, from Consett, County Durham, managed to reach it and was hauled to safety but Mr Farrar was exhausted and unable to reach it.

He was eventually pulled to safety after 25 minutes and an RAF Sea King helicopter, scrambled from RAF Boulmer, took both him and Ryan to Wansbeck General Hospital in Ashington.

Mr Farrar suffered a broken elbow and cuts to his body and legs while Ryan had minor neck injuries. Both were allowed home later.

Mr Farrar, an aerospace worker, said: "We were enjoying a stroll along the rocks when I heard a splash and Ryan's brother, Nicky, shouted that he was in the water.

"I reached down to try to pull him out but he was swept away by the tide, and I was pulled in as well.

"I was trying to reach Ryan but the waves were just battering us. I've never been so scared in all my life. I honestly thought I was going to die.

"Ryan was in the water for about 15 minutes before the people on the beach managed to reach him but they just couldn't get to me.

"I was in there for about 25 minutes.

"I was really tired and was struggling and then the people on the beach managed to get the buoy to me and I clung on tight and they eventually pulled me to safety before the helicopter arrived.

Ryan said: "I was scared and I was shattered. I had to scrounge round for every bit of air I could get. I was relieved when I came out, but I was worried about Davey.

"He was still in and I was blaming myself."

Insp Dave Charlton, of Northumbria Police, said: "Had it not been for the members of the public who improvised, I think we would have had two dead people.